by Eric Warren
“An’ how long has it been like that?” Jill asked.
Max shrugged as Sy exited behind her. “Two weeks.”
Jill nodded then reached back into the pod to grab the equipment. Poor Frees. He could lie to himself all he wanted but she’d known he only went over there to protect Arista. And not protect as in help her with her goal but protect as in he would do anything to ensure her safety. Including getting himself killed. If it meant saving her, he would do it. And apparently he had. If there was any way to get his body back, Max needed to find it. She might have to make two trips but somehow they had to find it.
“Scout ahead?” she asked Max who nodded in agreement.
She took off running and returned only a few seconds later. “Nothing so far.”
“I know you insisted on me coming to operate the gate. But what happens if we do run into Peacekeepers?” Sy asked.
Jill squinted at the long corridor before them. “I suspect you still have the refractor?”
“It’s in the box you’re carrying.”
“Use it. Max and I will draw them off. We’ll regroup back at the gate.”
Sy nodded as if that was all she needed and walked toward their destination. Jill’s hand shot out and grabbed the woman by the arm. Sy looked at her, her eyebrows knitted together. “Don’t betray us. You don’t want Max to come looking for you.”
She gave a short nod as if she understood and Jill let go of her arm. It was an empty threat; Sy could make herself disappear and never return. Obviously, the colony was disguised in much the same way if it hadn’t been detected for almost a hundred years. But Jill felt as if she needed to make it clear regardless. And hopefully if Sy thought of abandoning them it might be enough to make her second-guess the decision.
They made it to the glass bridge before stopping. “Hold up,” Max said, inspecting the area beyond the glass. “I need to make sure there aren’t any out there.”
It was the middle of the afternoon and the sun shone bright across the courtyards and streets below. People moved back and forth out there in their daily duties, but Jill couldn’t make out if any of them had red eyes or not.
“How can she tell?” Sy asked as they watched her cross the glass bridge, searching.
“Max has excellent vision. But she’s also watching for visual cues. The Peacekeepers always look like they’re lookin’ for something. They haven’t adapted blendin’ in very well.”
“Clear enough,” Max called back to them which was shorthand for hurry the hell up and hope no one sees us. Even though Max and Jill hadn’t been on the original decree from Charlie to be apprehended, if the Peacekeepers saw anyone inside the production facility they would know something was wrong. The building had been all but shut down and deemed unusable after everything had happened. A smart Peacekeeper might remember there was a usable Gate inside, but they also might conclude no one other than Charlie knew how to work it, so it wasn’t a viable resource for their wards to exploit. It was so hard to tell with the Peacekeepers. Some were very clever and others dumb as a brick.
Sy and Jill trotted across the glass bridge, doing their best to get across as quickly as possible.
Once they were on the other side, Jill said, “Now as long as there aren’t any guarding the gate itself we’ll be in good shape.”
“If I may ask,” Sy began, siding up to Jill as they walked. “What is it you want out of life? We haven’t really had a chance to talk and I’m afraid once all this is over I won’t have the chance to ask again.”
Jill frowned. “What I want out of life? Why do you want to know?”
She shrugged. “I’m just curious. You two are the only autonomous machines I’ve ever met, with the exception of Frees, of course. But I can’t ask him.”
Her tone came off as somewhat brusque, but Jill brushed it away. She didn’t want to talk to this person. She’d already betrayed them once. Unless Jill had somehow misunderstood the conversation, but it had been pretty clear to her. Retrieve Arista and Frees and bring them back to the colony. But as soon as they were back they would interrogate Sy; make her tell them what the colony’s plans were. So why not indulge her? It might make her drop her guard if she thought Jill was just another friendly presence.
“I suppose I want to experience,” Jill said. “I’m only ten years old after all. I’ve still got sixty percent of my life left to live. I want to see everythin’ out there.”
“You mean travel? The world?”
“Travel. Art, music. Before Frees came along I thought I’d be stuck here. Or at least in one place.” The thought of him hurt, so she pushed it away. “But now that it’s just Arista I don’t guess I’ll have any reason to stay around. Not once she goes to the colony with you.”
Sy nodded. “You just want the freedom to do what you want.” She glanced at Max ahead of them. “Will you stay with her? Will you travel together?”
“Probably. In some ways I see her as my daughter.” She smiled. “I had one, once. Before I changed. I had a daughter and a granddaughter and a whole mess of family.”
Sy tilted her head. “But you didn’t want to stay?”
“Why would I? They weren’t real. I’m closer to Max there and I’ve only known her four weeks!”
“I don’t think I can really know what that’s like for you. But I suppose I can understand.” She was silent a moment. “Do you think you’d ever consider visiting the colony? Come with me and Arista?”
The question struck her as odd. The man on the comm had said, “I’ll leave it up to you”, regarding the “other machines”. She assumed that meant her and Max. Was that what Sy was getting at? Gauging their interest in accompanying her and Arista? “Are there other machines there?”
Sy chuckled. “Not like you. My people would find you fascinating.”
Jill considered it. “Perhaps. Once Arista is settled and finds her parents. I don’t wanna be a distraction. They don’t have much time left.”
Sy turned her gaze straight ahead. “Don’t worry. We’ll find them. We’ve got the best scanning equipment on the planet.”
Max suddenly took off running ahead of them. She returned only a moment later. “Coast is clear. No Peacekeepers.”
Sy clapped her hands together. “That’s fantastic! Thank you, Max. We should have that gate up and running in no time.”
Jill had caught the sparkle in her eyes. She was really excited about this gate. That was good. Keep her focus on their immediate goals and not what would happen after. Because things would happen fast. She’d already discussed it with Max, who would restrain Sy, leaving Jill to keep watch while she went through to search for Arista.
“How long can it stay open?” Jill asked.
“Oh, usually not more than a few minutes. The power drain becomes an issue.” Damn. They would just have to force her to open it back up when Max was ready to return.
They reached the “corral” as Frees had called it. Jill could see why. Bodies littered the ground everywhere, and in front of the large empty wall were stations where she assumed finished bodies were held until transported to the Cadre. Everything would be okay. They’d find Arista and get her back.
“Okay, please set that down over there,” Sy said, indicating the box Jill had carried from the hyperloop. “Max, would you mind activating the system? It will take a few minutes to warm up. Same as before.”
Max nodded and walked to the control panel beside the giant wall. Jill hadn’t realized just how immense this place was when Frees described it to her. The Gate itself was large enough to pilot a ship through. Max touched the panel and the room began to hum with energy.
“Perfect. Thank you.” Sy said. She reached into the box she had carried. As Jill turned back toward Max a bright bolt of blue energy struck her in the center of the chest, emanating from the box. She glanced down in shock, realizing too late she had no chance to respond. Her eyes turned to Max only to see a second blue bolt holding her in place. A slight jolt later and her entire body
went numb. And as she felt herself collapse and the darkness obscure her vision the last thing she saw was Max doing the exact same thing.
Thirty-One
With some assistance from Frees, Arista walked out of the medical ward. The food still hadn’t arrived but they’d decided they couldn’t wait. They needed to find a way to warn Jill and Max about Sy.
“What if they’re all still staying together? Last time we spoke they were in the house. Sy could be listening to any warning we give Jill. Did you guys ever have a secret code, or language you used?”
“A secret code?” Frees asked, holding on to her arm and guiding her down the hallway. “You mean back when we were bartering with sunglasses and energy drives? What would have been the need? No one ever paid attention to us.”
“What about when Peacekeepers were around?”
He scoffed. “You know what’s funny? We never had a problem with Peacekeepers until I met you.”
She smiled. “May I remind you that’s your own fault. I didn’t ask you to come into the most Peacekeeper-dense building in the city to get me.”
“Yeah, but you needed me. Who else would you have tormented with all your human eccentricities?”
“Oh, you mean like using the restroom?”
Frees made a gagging noise. “Don’t remind me.”
Arista smiled. She was glad he was getting back to his old self. He’d been so melancholy back in the medical bay. So disillusioned. Maybe he’d just needed something to focus on; a new goal worth pursuing so he didn’t have to think about the future. Baby steps.
“What if we told Jill we were done? That we’d completed the goal and were ready to come back?”
Arista considered it. “You know, that’s not a bad idea. Do you think Sy would know we were lying?”
Frees shrugged. “I wonder if there is a way we can make it look like we actually did it?”
Arista’s head snapped up. Then to him. “There is. We need to find Shin. Where are we going anyway?”
“I don’t know. I had to get out of that…place. Too much blood. Shin insisted on extracting the hand from what was left of your arm so he could study it. You do not want to know what came out when he pulled them apart.” He made another small gagging noise.
“He’s probably still protecting everyone so I don’t change them. Just ask the first person you see.”
They rounded the corner to the elevators, a woman stood guarding the doors, her hands clasped in front of her and sunglasses on her face. “There,” Arista said.
“That’s one of the guards who came to find me,” Frees said, his voice low. “Shin?”
The woman turned and gave a slight bow of her head. “Frees. Arista. Up and about?”
“We need to speak with you. It concerns the other human,” Arista said.
The woman nodded. “Please meet me upstairs. My avatar will be there shortly.”
“Why not just talk here?” Frees asked.
The woman smiled. “The view is not as good.” The elevator door behind her opened as if on command and she moved aside to allow them entrance.
“The last time we were in here we were falling for our lives,” Arista said. “Do you think Hogo-sha is wired into every part of this building? That we’re essentially inside his ‘real’ body right now?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Frees said. “He seems to have a tight rein on everything.”
When they reached the sky lobby they had to change elevators, then they had to change them one last time to reach the very top floors, just like before. As they rose the sun rose with them, inching ever closer over the horizon to shine a new day on Osaka. And on each sky lobby it was a little higher so by the time they reached the top floors most of the city was bathed in fresh sunlight.
The halls outside the large double doors had been cleaned and repaired; there were no longer large cracks or indentations on the floors from where Shin had flung bodies at them. In those moments he had been unhinged. And the rest of the time he had been completely in control, calm and serene. It reminded Arista to stay off his bad side.
Frees pushed through the large oak doors, his hand still on Arista’s good arm. She didn’t necessarily need it there, but it felt safer in case she suddenly felt weak. But now that she’d gotten up and moving she felt better already.
“I am sorry the food has not arrived yet. We are transporting now,” Shin said as they entered. The glass windows they had destroyed had also been repaired and Shin stood at the far end of the room, staring out over the city. Above him the true form of Hogo-sha was ominously silent. If not for the blinking lights, Arista would have thought he was off-line.
“We’re not here about that,” Arista said. “We need to contact our friends. To warn them. Are our comms still being blocked?”
Shin turned to them. He’d changed into a different business suit which fit him perfectly. Not a piece was out of place and he had everything right down to the pocket square. And yet, it struck Arista as odd. Like a doll wearing a human’s clothes. Though she didn’t know why; she’d never felt that way about anyone else. Why did this seem so different?
Shin tilted his head to the right by a small amount. “No. They are no longer blocked. Please, use them if you wish.”
“We need your help first,” Frees said.
“With what?”
Arista stepped forward, allowing Frees’ hand to fall away. “We want to tell them we’ve completed our goal. That we’ve destroyed you and are ready to come back. That way if Sy is planning something she’ll have no excuses.”
“But she can detect me. And Trymian. She can see we are still connected.”
“That’s what I was afraid of,” Frees said.
Arista sighed. Damn. She glanced up at Hogo-sha. “What if she couldn’t detect you anymore?”
“Go on,” Shin said.
“What if you downloaded your entire consciousness into Shin? And we turned ‘you’ off? Or disconnected you or whatever?”
“I would lose my redundancies,” Shin said. “If something happened to his body I would die.”
“Just like everyone else,” Frees said, prompting a narrowing of eyes from Shin.
“It doesn’t have to be permanent,” Arista said. “Just long enough to convince Sy we’re done and to bring us back. Then you can re-upload yourself.”
Shin pressed his mouth into a line and began pacing back and forth across the window. “I do not know. I wouldn’t be able to protect anyone from you. You could infect my people.”
“I give you my word I won’t. I am in complete control. I won’t change anyone without your permission.”
His gaze landed on her. She knew he was looking for any signs of deception.
“Shin…Hogo-sha, listen to me. You helped save my life. I consider that a debt to be paid. It does not further my—or Frees’—goals to betray you. You are the strongest ally we have here. Trust me.”
“An eye for an eye. Or in your case, a favor for a favor.” He stopped pacing. “It is a risk I am unwilling to take.”
No. She was so close. There had to be a way to convince him.
“Sy knows the location of the human colony. If…if you knew where it was would that be worth the risk?”
“How would you extract the information?”
Arista tried to temper the excitement in her voice. “If she thinks we succeeded she said she would take me back there. She said they are searching for my parents at the moment.”
“Anyone who gave you that hand had no intention of taking you anywhere,” Shin said, tapping his right hand. “I completed my analysis. The reason it is so powerful is because it drains the life force of the user. It is a suicide weapon.”
“So then,” Arista hesitated. “You think she did it on purpose. It wasn’t a side effect she didn’t know about. It was intentional.”
“It was,” Shin turned back to look at the city again. She and Frees stood beside him to admire the view. The sun had risen even further, casting
light into the caverns between the skyscrapers. The skylanes grew more crowded as they watched people begin their daily routines. “This was intentional. All of it.” Shin turned to her. “But for you it was an accident. Your society developed and this was the result. When you climbed out of the ocean you did not set out to create franchise restaurants, porcelain dolls or gravitational theories. But that is where you ended. Our society begins here. Who knows where we will end. I cannot allow the humans to threaten it. I do not wish them harm, but they cannot expand beyond their borders. They will kill the animals. Pillage the land. Use the resources until they are gone.”
Arista winced at each accusation. Humans of the past had been like this, yes. But still? Perhaps Sy had been a bad example. They couldn’t all be like this, could they? Back when she thought she was alone she liked to think if humans had survived they would have evolved, adapted to be better. To take care of things and each other. What if Shin was right? What if they were a destructive force to be unleashed on the world?
“If we help you find the colony and contain it would that be worth the risk?” She glanced at Frees. He stared back, his eyes searching her face. His mouth twitched as if he wanted to say something, but it remained shut. His eyes turned down in pity. It was at times like this, times when he was so tender that she lost all reading of him. What was he thinking? She turned back to Shin whose gaze remained glued to the landscape before him. “Shin?”
“Perhaps.”
“Arista?” It seemed Frees had finally found his voice. “What if Sy never had any intention of finding your parents? That could have all been a lie.”
She sucked in a breath, knowing he spoke the truth. If the woman was willing to kill her to get what she wanted, why would she ever help her find her parents? That could have just been a stalling tactic. Or worse, they could be searching for them, only to hunt them down and kill them. There was no telling what she would do. What mattered was they needed to get in contact with Jill. They needed to go back. As soon as possible.
